Labor & Employment Law

Assistant Manager Saga Continues: Radio Shack Hit (Again)

By Mark Tabakman

In Florida, an Assistant Manager has filed a class action against RadioShack Corporation, alleging that the company has misclassified these managers as exempt executives and has not paid them overtime.  The case is Truax v. RadioShack Corp. and was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

The plaintiff is also claiming that Radio Shack 'knowingly and willfully' violated the Fair Labor Standards Act; this is an attempt to extend the otherwise two-year statute to three years and to recover liquidated (i.e. double) damages.  The plaintiff is claiming that the company failed to pay time and one-half for the overtime hours.  The named plaintiff claimed he regularly worked 55 hours every week but was only paid straight pay for the hours, rather than time-and-a-half that is mandated by the FLSA.

In another case, RadioShack is alleged not to have paid workers for attending store meetings. In that case, Kamar et al. v. RadioShack Corp., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has affirmed a lower federal court ruling that granted class certification to the plaintiffs.  That case involved mandatory meetings (on Saturday) that non-exempt employees attended and were not paid for.

On the Assistant Manager issue, the best defense is that these workers are truly exempt. The second best defense is that the class certification motion must fail because individualized assessment of each Assistant Manager is needed because some might have exercised more managerial duties than others.  The need for individual scrutiny is the antithesis of a class action .

As far as the mandatory meetings, this is basic FLSA law.  Non-exempt employees compelled to attend meetings or trainings are on the clock. 
 

Full post as published by Wage & Hour - Development & Highlights on July 23, 2010 (boomark / email).